1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a text-to-speech (TTS) processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a multiple language text-to-speech processing apparatus capable of processing texts expressed in multiple languages of many countries, and a method thereof.
2. Related Art
A text-to-speech device is a device which is able to detect words and then convert the words into audible sounds corresponding to those words. In other words, a text-to-speech device is able to detect text, such as text appearing in a book or on a computer display, and then output audible speech sounds corresponding to the detected text. Thus, the device is known as a "text-to-speech" device.
Exemplars of recent efforts in the art include U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,906 for a Method for Synthesizing Speech from Text and for Spelling All or Portions of the Text by Analogy issued to Silverman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,320 for Method and Apparatus for Text-to-voice Audio Output with Accent Control and Improved Phrase Control issued to Asano, U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,854 for a Text to Speech System issued to Sharman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,748 for an Electronic Handheld Translator Having Miniature Electronic Speech Synthesis Chip issued to Breedlove et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,926 for Method and Apparatus for Converting Text into Audible Signals Using a Neural Network issued to Karaali et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,131 for a Language Translation System and Method issued to Stentiford ct al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,606 for a Multi-lingual Prompt Management System for a Network Applications Platform issued to Osder et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,713 for a Synthesis of Speech from Text issued to Hasegawa.
While these recent efforts provide advantages, I note that they fail to adequately provide a text-to-speech system which is able to generate speech for text when the text appears in several different languages.